Conway's Bryce Molder has always displayed having a laid-back personality.
There have been no on-course meltdowns or off-course run-ins with law enforcement for the 38-year old who has won nearly $12 million since he joined the PGA Tour in 2002.
Thursday night, speaking before his induction into the Arkansas State Golf Association Hall of Fame, Molder said that he was retiring from professional golf.
Molder, quiet and assuming, said it was a decision he made this PGA season, but one that didn't need to be done with any of the hoopla of television cameras and bright lights surrounding it.
"There wasn't a need for any news conferences or big announcements to say this was it," said Molder, one of four ASGA honorees at Chenal Country Club. "I would have loved to spend another 2, 3, 4 years, playing. I tried to put my mind, body, spirit, energy, everything I had into it, but I wasn't getting the results. I could never quite find a rhythm in my golf swing and ball striking."
Molder, whose lone PGA Tour victory came at the 2011 Frys.com Open, said trying to deal with a lower back issue early in the year started his game going in the wrong direction.
He tried to play through it, finishing 26th in the Travelers Championship in late June, then missing three consecutive cuts before a tie for 62nd at the RBC Canadian Open.
In a missed cut at The Greenbrier Classic, Molder shot a first-round 68, but a 76 in the second sent him home early. His season ended in mid-August when he withdrew after the first round of the last regular-season event, the Wyndham Championship, and finished 190th in the FedEx Cup standings, 65 places out of the playoffs.
Molder, who resides in Scottsdale, Ariz., said based on exemptions he still could have played in six-to-eight Tour events in the upcoming season. He also could have tried to retain his card by way of the Web.com playoffs.
Instead, he said he will be just fine spending his time with his wife, Kelley, and their daughter Jules Avery, who just turned 3 years old., until it's time to turn the page.
"It was the first birthday of hers that I have been around so that was pretty special," said Molder, whose best year came in 2011 when he won $1,957,944 on the strength of making 15 of 26 cuts, with $900,000 coming in his victory. "I could have went and played in the Web.com finals to try and earn enough that way, but it's about moving on and finding something I am more passionate about."
Among the career options for Molder, a four-time All-America at Georgia Tech and a teammate of seven-time PGA Tour winner Matt Kucher, is real estate or course design.
Molder's career included making 157 of 285 cuts (55.1 percent) and 29 top-10s that included a second-place finish at the 2009 St. Jude Classic in Memphis and two third-place finishes. His best placing in a major came when he tied for 12th in the 2010 PGA Championship, five strokes behind winner Martin Kaymer.
Joining Molder on Thursday were former state amateur champion David White, 46, of Little Rock, six-time National Amputee champion Jim O'Keane, 73, of Maumelle, and U.S. Kids Golf founder and president Dan Van Horn 65, of Atlanta.
White, a two-time NCAA All-American, said winning the 1990 State Amateur by one shot was one of the top highlights of his career and his uncle and fellow Hall of Famer Don White, made it that way.
"I remember when it was over and I knew I had won, that Uncle Don ran up to me and handed me $100," White said. "That was like a million dollars to me."
O'Keane, who had his left leg amputated below the knee in 2003, won National Amputee Championships between 2004 and 2011 in the senior and super-senior divisions.
"The reason I started playing golf was I got too old to play softball," O'Keane said. "I liked it because I was good at it."
Van Horn, a University of Arkansas, Fayetteville graduate, founded U.S. Kids Golf in 1996.
"I felt it was a personal mission to start U.S. Kids Golf," he said. "It was a spiritual calling. It helped get my kids in the game and to me, there's a tremendous sense of pride when you do something you love and your kids can benefit."
Also honored Thursday night were the 2017 state players of the year: Nick Zimmerman, men; Nora Phillips, women; Mark Graham, mid-senior; Bev Hargraves, senior; Pat Elliott, senior women; Bill Wrentz, super-senior; Connor Gaunt, junior boys; and Elizabeth Moon, junior girls.
Sports on 09/29/2017